


The Great Majority

by ByCandlelight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Events of the book largely unchanged, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, F/F, M/M, Science Fiction, Worldbuilding, but 100 years later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29276949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByCandlelight/pseuds/ByCandlelight
Summary: Harry was woken unpleasantly early by the floo call. This was the reason that he had resisted having a fireplace in his bedroom, and, of course, the reason Cho had insisted.There were more convenient ways of making contact these days, but wizards were, if nothing else, traditionalists.The year is 2122.It’s Harry Potter in space, y’all.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Powers That Be

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an alternate universe where the events of Harry Potter happened--but about 100 years later. Because what Harry Potter is missing, really, is space travel.

Harry was woken unpleasantly early by the floo call. This was the reason that he had resisted having a fireplace in his bedroom, and, of course, the reason Cho had insisted.

There were more convenient ways of making contact these days, but wizards were, if nothing else, traditionalists.

After waking him with her call, Cho waited patiently for him to put himself into a semblance of order before continuing. Mercifully, she did not comment on his still being asleep at 2 in the afternoon. Grateful, he did not comment that the fact that she used the floo at all indicated that she knew he would still be sleeping.

“Ma’am,” he acknowledged once he had retrieved his glasses, although one who knew him well would have known that it was more sardonic than respectful. Cho knew him well. Harry continued, “I’m on leave for another four weeks.”

“I know; the good news is that your transfer request has been approved,” she paused and then continued, “But the bad news is you’re leaving in 2 days.”

“And you’re only telling me now? I assumed that my transfer request had been rejected when I didn’t get an answer three months ago!” Harry was understandably incredulous.

Now that he thought about it, Cho looked tired. Whatever had led to this last minute change in plans had clearly caused havoc for the entire Spatial Exploration Division. 

She rubbed her eyes with her hand and then sighed before explaining, “Oliver Wood put in his request first, and he has more experience than you, but he had a broom accident this morning and he shattered his femur. It was a matter of minutes to heal it, of course, but his accident led the Powers That Be to believe him to be temperamentally unsuited for such an important task.”

Internally, Harry groaned. The Powers That Be meant higher ups at the Global Ministry and even the World Union, inevitably indicating that Hermione was involved. 

Although technically a liaison between the World Union and the Global Ministry, she seemed to have a wide ranging and vaguely defined set of duties and powers that made Harry fear for the future of democratic government.

Harry hated that she intervened on his behalf, even if that is what had allowed him to transfer from the Aurors to the Space Exploration Division five years previous.

After that, Harry had decided that enough was enough, and had kindly requested that she leave his career alone, so he could fail or succeed on his own merits. And until now, she had appeared to abide by his wishes.

His face must have shown his displeasure, because Cho hurried to reassure him, “It wasn’t Hermione’s doing. I mean, she supported Wood’s removal, but really, everyone was fed up with him, especially after the incident with the hoverboard in Arizona. I am honestly surprised that he was going on this mission in the first place.”

“I’m a little surprised that it’s going ahead without delay,” was Harry’s response. 

“Well, with this being the first voyage to another galactic arm, this mission has a lot of publicity. Elections are coming up, and it is generally believed that a delay could have negative effects on outcomes,” Cho was clearly restraining herself from rolling her eyes. She had never been a huge fan of political machinations.

Harry was well aware of the mission’s import. It was part of the reason that he applied to be part of it.

“Anyways,” Cho continued, “The captain requested you.”

“Did she?” Harry was surprised. Ginny and he were not on bad terms, but their friendship had considerably cooled following their breakup. Then again, she had always managed to put her feelings aside in favor of professionalism. It was one of the many things he admired about her.

“Yes,” Cho smirked, “It seems that your superiors now include all two of your exes.”

“Please, I have more than two.”

“Of course you do,” Cho’s tone dripped with disbelief, “Anyways, there is an emergency crew meeting in 25 minutes, so you better be there. I’ll leave you to get dressed.”

She ended the call abruptly.

For a moment, Harry fondly gazed into the fireplace where her face had been. It was strange for her to be his superior, but Cho was one of the best friends he had. But now was not the time to think of that. He had a mission, a purpose.

With energy that he had not felt in weeks, Harry donned his robes and tamed his hair as best he could. His blood thrummed with electricity, and he felt boundless, endlessly energetic.

In just a few short days, all the plodding dullness of Earth would be behind him, and it would just be him and the vast potential of endless space.

***

Harry was the last to arrive, and he refused to feel guilty about that. After all, he had only learned about the meeting 25 minutes before. As he opened the door to the austere meeting room, conversation halted and five faces turned to look at him.

“Harry!” exclaimed Luna enthusiastically, “You’re here!”

Everyone else looked slightly less enthusiastic, although Ginny gave him a nod of approval.

Awkwardly, Harry slid into the seat closest to the door.

“Well, we are all here now,” Ginny began, “You all heard what happened with Wood. Potter is going to be his replacement as first officer.”

No one looked surprised--they probably already knew this.

“Potter,” she continued, and did it ever sound odd, her calling him Potter instead of Harry, “I believe you know everyone. Malfoy is our medical officer; Finnigan is our engineer; Krum, our pilot; Lovegood, our biologist, should we achieve our goal; and I of course am your captain.”

“The location of interest is the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way. It is the closest arm to our own, and we have identified a cluster of stars with planets that are likely to support life. We will search for life on these planets. If we find life in its rudimentary stages, we will take samples and data. If we find intelligent life, we will attempt to make contact. On planets where no life is detected, we will take rudimentary samples and move on,” Ginny summarized, sounding tired and more than a bit bored. The sudden change in crew probably had not made her life any easier.

“No offence, Captain,” Seamus cut in, “But we know this already. Can’t you brief Harry separately so the rest of us don’t have to listen to this?”

Actually, Harry already knew this as well, which said more about his reading of the Daily Prophet than anything else, but determined that now was not the time to say anything.

“Shut it Finnigan,” Ginny replied, but fondly, “You can afford the two minutes it has just taken to get Potter up to speed. This is hardly his first mission. Anyway, the main purpose of this meeting is to introduce you to our ship--there was a problem with the warp capacity, so they had to revamp it; they only finished this morning. The Pheonix VII, a real beauty…”

***

Across the Universe, 1024 planets careen around their stars in empty vastness. Most are relatively static, with little history of note except their own formation. These are the lonely gas giants and the battered obloid rocks--scorched or frozen.

But others--others exist in a zone that is precariously precious: neither too far away from a star nor too close. And the planets here have much more fascinating stories to tell.

For on a select few of these planets, life has arisen--small at first, but ever growing, ever evolving, ever burgeoning into a kaleidoscope of possibility.

Our planet was one of those lucky few.

But not for long. Soon, all that will be left is rust and bone.

\--Anonymous, from the ruins of Denaee


	2. A Lonely Universe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things Will Start Happening Soon (right after this chapter)
> 
> Also--I can no longer pretend I know how many chapters this will be--though I do swear I have an outline.

Take off always filled Harry’s limbs with a strange frisson. The spell was long and complicated, with intricate words and motions that each crew member needed to coordinate with the others. Technically, a group of three could perform the spell, but it was traditional for all six members to take part, to lower the magical strain.

They stood in the control room, in a loose circle, wands raised. Ginny was on his left, and Seamus on his right. Across from him was Malfoy; the magic crackled audibly, and the spell reached its apex. In Malfoy’s eyes, Harry saw an electricity that mirrored his own excitement, and nearly lost his focus on the spell.

Uncertain, Harry broke eye contact.

The crew finished the spell without a hitch, and, all together, they were hit with the unpleasant shifting sensation of long distance apparition. 

When the ship finally settled around them, Harry felt a wave of nausea wash through him. He breathed rhythmically, and slowly, it passed. Seamus was not so lucky, and made a beeline for the toilets.

“Alright!” Ginny cracked her neck, “Pretty smooth take-off. You know the drill--we’ll cool our heels here for a day, recover from the transition. Krum--confirm our location--we better not be anywhere near the asteroid belt. Potter--you’re with me to do the ship diagnostic; Finnegan might be out for a while.”

Standard protocol was to apparate to a relatively empty locale in the solar system, recharge themselves for a day, and then make the longer jump to their destination. Apparating from the earth to space was more trying than between different points in outer space.

Harry sighed internally; as first officer his job description did include a lot of filling in for others as needed. The versatility was something he liked about his role. However, right now he would rather have some tea and join the inexplicable game that Malfoy and Luna were playing--although knowing Luna, there may or may not actually be rules.

Phoenix VII was sleek and compact--diamond shaped with three levels. The top was the glass-domed control room, the bottom served only as a storage area and an entryway. On Earth it looked improbable--four retractable feet kept it from listing--and it had little use on land or sea. In space, however, it was perfect. Big enough for six crewmembers to be comfortable, and small enough to apparate across the vastness of space. It was airtight and well-insulated. It’s kitchens and storage areas were well-equipped with supplies and undetectable extension charms. Six disciplined crewmembers could survive in it for a very long time.

***

By the time Harry and Ginny were done with the long list of precautionary checks, the others were in the common area, making some sort of dinner. Luna was putting the finishing touches on a surprisingly-normal looking batch of mashed potatoes. Malfoy had been relegated to the washing-up. He looked intent on setting up his cleaning spells. Harry must have been staring, but he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t seen Malfoy since they were 18 and both in school. He was older--no surprise there--but when had Malfoy lost his edges? 

Seamus--seemingly recovered--bumped shoulders with Harry companionably, and laughed “Don’t look so surprised--after all these years, even Malfoy must have learned to wash a plate.”

He continued more quietly, “I assume that if Ginny chose you for this mission, she thinks that you’re able to more or less put the war behind you. Otherwise the close quarters might get a tad uncomfy. Though I must say I’m glad I don’t have to room with him.”

Harry was not sure how to respond to that. The war wasn’t something he could ever put behind him. And yet--somewhere along the line all it seemed his anger had drained away, and he wasn’t sure what was there to replace it.

***

It was only later that Harry realized that Seamus not rooming with Malfoy meant that he had to. 

There were three rooms for the crew--each with bunk beds. The fact that Luna and Ginny were a couple made them an obvious pair. And it appeared that Seamus and Krum had quietly claimed a room together. That left Harry and Malfoy in the last room. 

It wasn’t that Harry distrusted Malfoy, but the idea of sharing quarters with his childhood nemesis was...odd. He paused awkwardly in the entrance of the room. Malfoy was sitting on the lower bed--knees pulled into his chest. 

With a sigh, Malfoy rose to his feet, “Look--if you’re going to be weird about this, then I can just sleep on the couch in the common room.”

Harry looked at him in disbelief.

Malfoy continued, tone somewhat combative, “You can certainly get me kicked off this mission if you want--even without Granger at the Global Ministry.”

“Little late for that don’t you think? Now that we are in space?” Harry tried to ask lightly, but something in his tone seemed to miss the mark. He pressed on, “Anyways, I’m not trying to cause problems.” Harry paused, then asked, “So should I take the top bunk?”

Malfoy nodded, expression indecipherable.

Tired after a long day, neither said much else as they got ready for bed. When they were both in bed, with the lights off, and Harry had just started drifting off to sleep, Malfoy spoke, “You’re allowed to hold grudges you know.”

“Goodnight Malfoy.”

Malfoy whispered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “Saint Potter”, and then replied more loudly, “It’s Draco.”

Harry paused, then repeated, “Goodnight, Draco.”

If Draco said anything in response, Harry didn’t hear it. He had already dropped into a deep sleep.

***

The next morning they completed the long apparition to the Perseus arm. It was a hard apparition, and even Ginny felt woozy after it was done. The rest of the day was freetime to recuperate, and this time Harry did have the chance to learn Luna’s card game. All six of them joined in, and the mood was light. Harry himself felt a calm he only ever experienced in space. Earth and its many complications were far away. It was just him and the unknown.

A snort from Draco broke Harry out of his thoughts. This game seemed not to be Draco’s strengths--though he took his losses with better humor than Harry expected; sure, he complained constantly, but it was obvious to Harry that Draco didn’t mean it. On the contrary, he seemed to be having fun. He felt his eyes drawn repeatedly to the strand of hair that kept drifting in front of Draco’s eyes.

Well.

Maybe Harry hadn’t left all the complications on Earth.

***

“How was our aim?” Ginny asked, right down to business. Krum fiddled with something on the ship’s main panels.

“Fine,” Krum replied, laconic as ever.

“Take us into orbit then,” Ginny said, and Krum busied himself with the controls.

Ideally, long-distance apparition would take the ship into the orbit of the planet of interest, thereby reducing the need for complicated and expensive thrusters. In the case of missions within the solar system, this was exactly what was done. However, as the distance increased, so did the margin of error for the apparition. A trip to the moon could be accurate within a few feet, but a trip to another arm of the galaxy meant landing error in the magnitude of a thousand of kilometers, large enough to be the difference between landing in orbit and apparating into a planet’s core.

The World Union and the Global Ministry’s astronomers and astrologers had identified 27 planets and moons of interest in this locality--scattered across 14 solar systems. Over the course of about 4 months they would visit all of them, and scan them for any forms of life. If there was basic life, they would take samples, and that would be it. Of course, the sponsors of this mission weren’t paying for this trip to find bacteria. The members of the crew hardly dared voice the true hope of this mission--but the message was clear across popular media and news outlets--and not just the sensational ones. This truly was a search for intelligent life. Peace on earth had been achieved--and now many people on earth felt it was time for humans to seek out other worlds, other lifeforms--if they could find them.

This wasn’t the first mission with this goal. The first one was back in 2115, seven years ago. The mission went without a hitch--but still was a failure. They visited 12 Goldilocks-zone planets in the local arm. One had basic prokaryotes similar to those on earth. The others were entirely lifeless. Harry hadn’t been part of that mission, although Ginny had been the first officer. 

They had apparated Phoenix VII sufficiently far from the first planet they would scan, then they would use their high-speed thrusters to get into orbit.

It would be an hour or two until arrival. Seamus got to work on a full systems check.

As for Harry, he had little to do. Between the three of them, Krum, Ginny, and Seamus had navigation and systems completely under control. Luna had retreated to her lab to prepare for the chance of there being biological samples--rather optimistic, in Harry’s view. 

He retreated to the kitchen for tea. 

Draco was there too--flipping through a book of some sort.

“Tea?” Harry asked, slightly abrupt.

“No thanks,” Draco replied, but he set down his book and stood up to watch Harry boil the water.

“Do you always make tea the muggle way?” Draco asked, something hesitant in his tone.

“It tastes better,” Harry replied, perhaps a little defensive.  
Draco nodded, and didn’t contradict him. After a minute or so, he picked up his book again and sat at the kitchen table. Once his tea was steeped, Harry joined him at the table, and they both sat for a while in companionable silence.


End file.
